If it seems ludicrous that Microsoft would even be considering some of these extreme moves, that’s just what some shareholders and long-time Microsoft analyst Rick Sherlund of Nomura Securities are reportedly calling on the company to do.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that some top Microsoft shareholders are calling on Bill Gates to step down from his position as chairman of the Microsoft board. Those shareholders reportedly are concerned that Gates is wielding too much power and control (including participating in the committee that will choose the next CEO) while not dedicating the time necessary to do everything that needs to be done. After all, Gates has been clear that his foundation is his top priority.

In a note to investors on Friday, Sherlund reportedly suggested Microsoft should try to convince Maritz to come run its cloud-services division, luring him away from the top spot at cloud and big data company Pivotal.

Maritz used to be a Microsoft executive and sits on the board of directors at VMware, one of Microsoft’s biggest cloud competitors. He also spent some time as president of the cloud infrastructure division at EMC after the company acquired his startup, Pi.

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